The Drowned World: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The next day, Lieutenant Hardman disappears. Kerans wakes early, spends an hour gazing at the lagoon, and then dresses in his drill uniform to give the appearance that he's going to leave with Riggs. He realizes he's still undecided on this matter, but he hasn't made any real plans or taken any precautions or preparations to stay. However, Kerans does already have a month's worth of canned food stored at the Ritz, and Beatrice has three months' worth of frozen delicacies at her apartment. The fuel situation is somewhat more serious, as there's only enough fuel to last a month.

Despite all this, Kerans isn't anxious. He leaves his thermostat at the usual 80 degrees and thinks for a moment that this means he'll go with Riggs, but as he navigates his catamaran towards the base, he realizes that he's indifferent because he has decided to stay behind. He understands that by staying he's giving in to Bodkin's theory of neuronics, and food and clothing will matter little as he goes back in neuronic time.

When he reaches the third lagoon, Kerans stands and watches Macready tow the testing station towards the base. Rather than join the crew, he paddles to Beatrice's apartment. He can see her moving inside through the blinds, and she finally comes outside, looking tired and withdrawn. Beatrice makes herself a drink and goes back inside. When she doesn't return, Kerans goes inside to find her. The air inside is hot and stuffy, and he realizes this is probably the reason for her bad mood.

Kerans finds Beatrice lounging in bed. He turns down the thermostat and tries to take her whiskey from her. She informs him that the cooling system is broken, and after her dreams last night, she doesn't want to be lectured about her drinking habits. Kerans tells Beatrice to shower and asks her about the nightmares. She mumbles something about "jungle dreams," and tells Kerans that he'll soon be dreaming them too. Kerans again tells her to pour her drink out and goes to fix the generator.

When Kerans returns, Beatrice seems fully recovered and is painting her nails. He tells her that the timing device on the generator's engine was running backwards, but is interrupted by loud noises coming from the base below. Kerans grumbles that Riggs is probably going to leave today in an attempt to catch them off guard, but when he and Beatrice look over the railing, he sees the helicopter circling and a party, including Dr. Bodkin, preparing to get into three boats. When they notice Kerans, Riggs picks up a megaphone and calls for him across the lagoon. Kerans can't make out anything but his name, but the helicopter pilot signals in Morse code to Kerans. Kerans translates for Beatrice that they're picking him up on her roof, and that Lieutenant Hardman has disappeared.

As the helicopter travels over the lagoons, Kerans, Riggs, and Macready scan the water and vegetation below for signs of Hardman. Kerans realizes that they'll be hard-pressed to find Hardman, as the waterways are hard to see from the helicopter. The narrator explains that Hardman's disappearance was discovered at 8:00am, but Riggs believes he left the night before. Riggs thinks that Hardman likely lashed fuel drums together, since none of the small boats are missing. Though crude, such a craft could get him ten miles away from the base by daybreak.

Riggs finally declares that searching by air is useless. The helicopter lands on top of a cinema. Looking out on the water, Kerans is reminded of how people described Egypt during times of flood. Riggs opens a map and the helicopter pilot, Sergeant Daley, suggests that they conduct searches over specific small areas. Riggs asks Kerans what he thinks, and Kerans says he has no clue as to Hardman's motives. He trails off, lost in thought, as Riggs, Daley, and Macready discuss routes. He waits for Daley to finish saying that Hardman would've gone north before saying that Hardman would've gone south. When Daley says that Hardman would cook going south, Kerans only says that there is no other direction.

The group hesitates for a moment before getting back in the helicopter and heading south. After searching the southern lagoons for 20 minutes, Riggs concedes that if Hardman wants to evade them, he knows how. Kerans’s eye is drawn to a half-submerged apartment building and what he realizes are footprints in the silt leading to it from the water. He gets Riggs’s attention and points to the footprints.

On the ground, Riggs and Macready find Hardman's makeshift raft, made with two old tanks and a bed from the sick bay. Riggs praises Kerans for his insight and assures him that Hardman will be glad to see them, but Kerans reminds Riggs that they have to catch him first. Riggs shouts orders at two men to keep an eye on the water and makes a plan for the rest to search the building. Everyone is armed, which Kerans asks about. Riggs explains it's to ward off alligators, and that Hardman has a gun with him too. Riggs yells for Hardman in the megaphone. He yells that Kerans is here, and Kerans’s name echoes off of two clock towers several hundred yards away. The sound and the still clock faces are suddenly terrifying for Kerans.

Riggs, Macready, and Kerans begin to search the building from the lower floors up. With only two floors to go, Riggs’s patience is thin. They stand for a minute and try to catch their breath in the 120-degree heat. Kerans moves off down the hallway to find someplace to sit and he walks into the first apartment. He gazes at the clock faces across the water and notices that one of them is set to 11:35, which is almost the right time. Kerans wonders if the clock is working, and thinks that Riggs sometimes sets clocks before they abandon cities. He watches the clock and sees that it's not actually moving, but wonders if it's just an exceptionally slow clock. Kerans notices a cemetery near the clock tower and remembers a horrific cemetery they found in another city.

Kerans turns away from the window and notices a tall man with a black beard standing in the doorway behind him. The two men regard each other for a minute. The bearded man is wearing a medical orderly's jacket and an intense expression on his face. Kerans reaches a hand out to him and says "Hardman." Suddenly, the man (Hardman) throws himself at Kerans, just misses colliding with him, and swings over the balcony railing. Riggs enters the apartment moments later and curses. Riggs, Macready, and Kerans run downstairs.

Riggs pauses at water level and incredulously notes that Hardman is trying to drag his raft back into the water. He's failing miserably in the wet silt. Riggs, Macready, Kerans, and two soldiers surround Hardman in the silt as Hardman continues to wrestle with his raft. Kerans approaches Hardman with Wilson, who used to be Hardman's orderly, when suddenly the helicopter engine roars to life.

Hardman finally seems aware of the group surrounding him. Suddenly, Hardman fires his gun and shoots Wilson in the elbow. Hardman runs for the jungle, pursued by Macready, while Riggs and Kerans help Wilson. When Wilson is stabilized, Kerans runs after Hardman. He follows the soldiers into a small square that's still above water level, and Hardman runs into an open courthouse. Kerans pursues him slowly.

The helicopter appears overhead and the noise and the heat beat at Kerans’s brain. The helicopter begins to lose altitude, spins, and the tail rotor hits the courthouse. Daley looks stunned as the helicopter lands on the cobbles. The group settles in the shade, waiting for the high sun to fade. Ten minutes later, Kerans looks out at the square to see Hardman standing in the middle. Macready and Riggs seem like they're asleep and don't notice. Hardman quietly leaves the square and heads for the silt banks, and Kerans finally calls for Riggs’s attention. When Macready looks ready to pursue him, Riggs says to let him go. Kerans thinks that Hardman looks like he's walking directly into the sun.

The group sits for two hours on the museum steps in the square. Kerans tries to sleep but can't. A group of iguanas lurks around the square and brays at the men. Their brays fill Kerans with a deep-seated fear that persists even after he's safe at the base. At the base, Kerans finds Dr. Bodkin and briefly mentions the sounds of the iguanas. Bodkin says that Kerans might hear them again, but says nothing about Hardman. Kerans spends the night in the testing station, thinking about Hardman's journey south.